page_title: Saxifragales
section_title: Paeoniaceae
hierarchical_section_title: Saxifragales / Taxonomy / Families / Paeoniaceae
caption_attribution_description: English: Liquidambar styraciflua, planted on Western Way, Exeter. Autumn colour opposite 1058315. Taken in the morning, but the tree faces west; the sunlight is reflected from the fenestration on the new buildings opposite.
context_page_description: The Saxifragales are an order of flowering plants. They are an extremely diverse group of plants which include trees, shrubs, perennial herbs, succulent and aquatic plants. The degree of diversity in terms of vegetative and floral features makes it difficult to define common features that unify the order.
  In the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification system, the Saxifragales are placed within the major division of flowering plants referred to as eudicots, specifically the core eudicots. This subgroup consist of the Dilleniaceae, superasterids and superrosids. The superrosids in turn have two components, rosids and Saxifragales. The Saxifragales order has undergone considerable revision since its original classification based purely on plant characteristics. The modern classification is based on genetic studies using molecular phylogenetics. There is an extensive fossil record from the Turonian-Campanian time, about 90 million years ago. However, but molecular studies suggest an earlier origin in the early Cretaceous with rapid early diversification to more modern forms.
  The order Saxifragales consists of 15 families, about 100 genera and 2,470 species.
context_section_description: The Paeoniaceae (Peony family) consist of a single genus (Paeonia) with about 33 species of perennial herbs and small shrubs with showy flowers, found from the Mediterranean to Japan, but two species occur in western N America. They are commercially important as popular garden ornamentals, cultivated since antiquity, and have been used medicinally. The herbaceous varieties are derived from P. lactiflora, while the shrubs are derived from P. suffruticosa (tree peony), both Asian species. The botanical name comes from its Greek name, paionia, named in turn for the God Pan.
caption: Liquidambar styraciflua
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